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Mexico: Social and political struggles and the state of the left

Peter Gellert. Photo by Rachel Evans.

Peter
Gellert is a US-born,
long-term activist, now Mexican citizen. He is a leader of Mexico's
Movement for Cuban Solidarity. Links International Joural of
Socialist Renewal’s
Rachel Evans spoke to Gellert in Mexico City.

February 18, 2009 -- Inside Peter Gellert´s small apartment books of
history, politics and art, line groaning walls. Meticulously framed Cuban
posters monopolise the remaining space. Three turtles climb over each other in
a fish tank that gurgles sporadically.

'NAFTA
destroyed Mexican agriculture'

"Mexico signed onto the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in
1994 which meant greater subordination of Mexico to United States’ (US)
interests", began Gellert. "NAFTA destroyed Mexican agriculture. Mexico was sustainable, but now we have
40% of food imported. We also had a mass exodus of young men from the Mexican
countryside to work in the US. Twelve-million people, one eighth
of the entire Mexican population, are now in the United States. NAFTA didn't only affect
agriculture in a negative way, but local retail was also badly affected”, noted
Gellert.

"Mexico was flooded with franchises,
'Domino Pizzas' for example, whose every ingredient comes from the US. The flour, tomatoes -- they are
all from the US. They use no local produce at all.
I am sure Kentucky Fried Chicken and McDonald’s have the same policy. Wal-Mart
is here as well, which has meant local markets with fresh agricultural produce,
are getting wiped out. An added effect is that obesity is mushrooming. There
was not as much obesity in the 70s, before the onset of American
franchises."

"The countryside is in a massive crisis”, stated Gellert. "The
average wage earner in the countryside is earning 40 pesos or less a day. The
minimum wage has increased by 4% per year, but inflation has seen prices
mushroom. As a result, there has been massive immigration from the Mexican
countryside to Mexican cities and from the countryside to the US. In the 1950s, 75% of the Mexican people lived in rural areas.
Now only 20% are based in the countryside.

"The economic crisis has seen everything rise in price. Unions can strike,
but it is a long and complicated process. And while Mexico is a gasoline producer, gasoline
prices have increased 26 times in the
last year. Compounding the problem, 90% of gasoline stations rob customers.
Many workers at gasoline stations have to initially pay for their job! Some get
no wage, and only survive on tips or stealing. Twenty-five-gallon cars get
charged for 30 gallons. It's a huge issue”, explained Gellert.

"The current Mexican president, Felipe Calderón, is from the National
Action Party (PAN). This government has wanted to open the oil industry up to
private national and foreign investment, and the unions and social movement
have forced a partial retreat. Manuel López Obrador, who was the presidential
candidate of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) in 2006, has been
crucial in this campaign against privatisation. Obrador was robbed of the presidency
in the fraudulent elections of 2006”, Gellert reported.

2006 elections

"In these elections, more than 30% of polling stations recorded
discrepancies between the number of ballots received and the number of ballots
cast. In response to these stolen elections, there were the biggest
mobilisations in Mexico's history.

"Obrador was popularly known as the legitimate president. He led the
National Democratic Convention, which declared a shadow, legitimate government.
At one stage 2.5 million people marched against electoral fraud. For 40 days
there was a seven-kilometre occupation of the major road in Mexico City. This road was occupied 24 hours a
day. Traffic had to go elsewhere as the city was broken in two.’’

"In working-class neighbourhoods Obrador had overwhelming support, as well
as some support in middle-class areas", said Gellert. "The support
for the PRD and Obrador was immense. For example, in the working-class neighbourhoods
adjacent to where I live, the PRD beat Calderon 8 to 1.

"In reality, the shadow, legitimate government that Obrador initiated could
not do much. In fact, to a certain extent, it has been overshadowed by the campaign
to defend the government-owned oil industry, headed up by Obrador. There are
thousands of 'grassroots brigades' or campaign units in local areas of Mexico fighting off privatisation plans of
the PAN government -- with the campaign mobilising thousands”, noted Gellert.

Workers and unions

"Every
worker has to join a union – this is obligatory in Mexico”, continued Gellert. But 90% of those
unions are "white" unions that are controlled by the bosses. Workers
don't have real democratic control of their unions. Ninety per cent of the
unions in Mexico are white unions, and have no
democratic participation within them at all”, said Gilbert.

Social security workers

"Another site of struggle has been the social security workers union
contract”, said Gellert. "The government pays low wages to this sector,
but they provide good benefits. There is a Christmas bonus that is obligatory
for all companies to pay. Private sector workers get a bonus of at least 15
days, whilein government it is at least 30 days. Social
security workers get a three month Christmas bonus. Mind you, the Mexican
government does not provide unemployment benefits or student benefits. But the
government has been trying to whittle away collective bargaining agreement
provisions, and this has resulted in big battles”, remarked Gellert.

Privatisation of education

"For all intents and purposes, public universities are free, with the
government charging minor tuition fees. But the quality is not the best. The
private university system is better quality and very expensive. Companies are
starting to hire only private university students. However, education
privatisation has been fiercely contested.

"A massive student-led fight arose in 1999, as the government tried to
introduce upfront fees. To put this fight in context -- free education was one
of the victories of the 1910 Mexican revolution -- a historic moment in Mexican
history. Tuition had not been raised since 1941. This big campaign in 1999 was
run through large democratic assemblies -- with everyone, students and
professors alike -- participating. Fortunately, the campaign had enough
momentum despite many ultraleft excesses to, in essence, win its demands. Public
university education is still basically and for all intents and purposes free”,
emphasised Gellert.

History of struggle

"There has been a consistency of major campaigns from the heady 1960s in Mexico, unlike in other countries, which
saw a downturn in the struggle. In 1968 there was a huge student struggle. In
1986, there was another upsurge of the students. In 1988 there was a left-wing
split from a major political party – the Institutional Revolutionary Party
(PRI)”, noted Gellert. "We then had another upsurge in 1994 with the
Zapatistas in Chiapas. In 1999 there was the upsurge in
the student movement and, currently, social movement leaders are being born in
a number of struggles."

"Currently", continued Gellert, "the electricity workers’ union
is fighting against privatisation and government attacks on labour laws. At the
moment, that sector has a rather advanced union contract. In Mexican labour
legislation, there is no hourly pay – only monthly pay. Additionally, it's hard
for the bosses to lay people off as they have to pay redundancy. Hence, they
want more flexibility. The miners’ union has also been struggling hard against
government intervention in their union. But it is the campaign to defend the
oil industry that is the biggest and broadest campaign to date."

Social disintegration

"In international news there is coverage of kidnappings taking place in Mexico”, reflected Gellert. "Rich
people are being held to ransom and it's quite bad. In one case they stole a
child. The kidnappers got the ransom but killed the kid anyway. It's the drug
cartels. But it is linked to high government officials. The head of the
anti-drug unit was on the payroll of drug dealers. Police are also involved
because their salaries are so minimal. Horribly low. Sixty per cent of police
agents are said to be on the pay of drug traffickers.”

The Mexican left

"There are huge social movements in Mexico, and the left press has significant
influence. La Jornada, a left-wing
newspaper, has a circulation of between 70,000 to 100,000 copies per day. It
reflects the existence of a social left, a community of sorts. It is the second-
or third-largest selling newspaper in Mexico. Online, it has 120,000 readers per
day", reported Gellert.

"The electoral left is also very strong. They control Mexico City -- which is the political centre of
Mexico. Mexico City holds one quarter of Mexico's entire population. Out of 16
districts in Mexico City – the Party of the Democratic
Revolution (PRD) has control of 14. The PRD also has Mexico City´s mayor,
Marcel Ebrad. There are also a lot of regional leftist governments.

"Additionally, within Mexico City, as in other parts of the country,
an urban popular movement exists. There are 1000 independent neighbourhood
organisations in the city alone. The national workers’ confederation (UNT) is a
strong, independent movement. The students are organised faculty by faculty at
the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Conversely, the Marxist parties
have pretty much collapsed here”, explained Gellert.

Political parties

"The government rules by repression and cooption. Repression is a constant
factor in Mexican politics. At the cooption end, there are numerous former
leftists in government. Former activists are even to be found in the ruling
National Action Party (PAN) government, arguing that if they were not there,
PAN would be worse. They are lured by high salaries, and the excitement of
power.

"The PRI got ousted by PAN in the 2000 elections, and is weakened – but it
is planning a come-back. The Green Party here is in a permanent alliance with
the PRI, and is utterly and completely discredited. Its main platform is the
reintroduction of the death penalty! Something not even the PRI bothers with.
In fact, even PAN and PRI are opposed to the death penalty”, explained Gellert.

"PAN, formed in the 1920s, is linked to the Catholic Church and is
anti-abortion and thoroughly neoliberal -- very conservative. PAN wants more
links with the US, but it has to contend with a deep-seated
anti-imperialist sentiment within Mexico. The PRI will make a comeback, but it
is a wounded tiger -- terribly discredited.

"The PRD, founded in 1989, is going through a major crisis and Obrador,
currently, is looking at the minor parties to see if a broad electoral front
can be registered using their ballot status instead of running on the PRD
ticket. This possibility he has left open.”

The Party of Democratic Revolution

"There is a strong likelihood there will be a split in the PRD after the coming
elections in 2009. The possible split is not over being in government; insofar
as there are political issues at stake -- the internal conflicts usually take
the form of disputes over posts, candidacies and the huge amounts of money
coming from the state subsidies, rather than party program or orientation.
Rather, a possible split would involve the degree of subordination to the
parliamentary rules of the game versus more of an orientation toward the mass
movement and more of a frontal opposition toward the Calderón
administration",explainedGellert.

"The PRD was born after the 1988 elections, following a left-wing split
from the PRI, with election fraud leading to mass mobilisations. The PRD allows
tendencies to exist within its organisational structure, but these tendencies
tend to be centred on personalities, not a political program. This exacerbated
some of the worst aspects of Mexican culture – such as the use of acarredos, whereby the leader of a
social organisation basically corrals the ranks into participating in marches
and rallies.

"Obrador has been dealing with internal tensions within the PRD over
positions by leading mass mobilisations. Obrador does not describe himself as a
socialist, but he is building up grassroots committees around defending the oil
industry, while not neglecting work with parliamentary deputies. Obrador is not
depending on parliamentary politics and is broadly considered to have won the
2006 elections."

Zapatistas

"In Chiapas, the Zapatistas's project is important and positive,
constructing people's power within the communities”, explained Gellert.
"Outside indigenous, peasant communities of Chiapas, however, the model clearly does
not work. In all major struggles outside Chiapas, the Zapatistas have basically
abstained, with the partial exception of the campesino movement and on agricultural issues. As a result, the
Zapatistas have earned a reputation for being sectarian.

"They won't turn up to rallies if any political party speaks, or involves themselves
in anything with political party involvement. They consider parties part of the
'power structure'. They see unions in the same light. They tend to be Chiapas-centred.
The Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) developed a political wing --
the Zapatista National Liberation Front -- as it understood the need to relate
to civil society. But it dissolved this group a few years after its formation
when it was clear that it wasn't going anywhere.

"For
example, in 2006 there was a massive movement against electoral fraud; there
have been struggles in defence of the electric power industry, of the miners’
union and for an increase in education funding and teachers’ salaries in Oaxaca, which led to generalised mass
upsurge. In all of these movements, the Zapatistas have basically abstained.

"The
movement led by the Zapatistas had everything going for it -- they put
indigenous rights on the front burner in Mexico”, continued Gellert. "They were
a force that was not corrupt. Indigenous people have a raw deal here. And the
Zapatistas had heaps of support. One quarter of a million people came to a
rally when Subcommandante Marcos came to town. Their sectarian approach has
led, unfortunately, to their almost complete isolation. At May Day in 2008,
there were 600,000 people marching. But no Zapatistas to be seen."

Left unity

"At the moment, there is little movement for a left socialist party
project. There is agreement in abstract for 'unity', yes, there is some
movement for that -- but there is no issue that is forcing that move”,
reflected Gellert.

"The PRD is in a crisis. It is the social left – hundreds of thousands if
not millions of people are involved at different levels but in terms of a unity
party project, so far, nothing. In 2009 there will be elections... After the
elections there is a strong possibility of a split as a result of infighting
over control, finances and candidacies. It is very bad, and gives the left a
bad reputation.
"We will see who, among the left groups, can take advantage of the
economic crisis and use it to grow.

Cuba

``The
rejection of the US economic blockade against Cuba, however, is expressed across the
board. Even PAN and the PRI support the campaign to end the blockade against Cuba”, commented Gellert.
"Cuba is a political reference point in
defining Mexican government policy. All of the Mexican government’s foreign
policy moves through the prism of US-Mexican relations, i.e. will Mexico bend to US foreign policy? When
President Fox was in power, there was an Iberoamerican Summit dinner which both
Fox and Fidel Castro were to attend. Fox called Fidel to ask if Fidel could
make himself scarce, so as not to make George Bush uncomfortable.

"Fidel told the world Fox had asked him to do this, which Fox denied.
Fidel -- who had taped the conversation -- proved this to be an utter lie. Fox
was very embarrassed. In Mexico, Cuba is much more a reference point for
the population, more than is the case for other Latin American countries."

Conclusion

"This economic crisis will cost PAN. The divided left has a bad
reputation here among the Mexican people, with the PRD crisis playing out in
public -- it is not a private discussion. Obrador has consolidated, however,
through his involvement with, and support of, the oil defence campaign, in
particular", concluded Gilbert.